The Hubble Constant is one of the largest bones of contention in modern physics. Now, a new hypothesis claims that dark energy may be the reason for such a large discrepancy in previous measurements.
Cosmologists have always been intrigued by the cosmos and how it’s expanding. As such, they not only calculated the rate of the universe expansion, but scientists are continually observing the phenomena too. In this observation, however, researchers noticed something interesting.
In recent times, scientists have reported a vast difference between the calculated rate of the universe expansion and their actual observation. According to a post in the New York Times, the cosmos is expanding nine times faster than it did at the beginning of time.
Needless to say that researchers have proposed various hypotheses to explain the inconsistency between the observed and calculated figure. A recent one claims that a mysterious energy field messed with the early universe.
According to the hypothesis, when the universe was still young (about a 100,000 years old), a mysterious energy field formed.
The field, which the scientists referred to as early dark energy, pushed the forming universe further outwards than ever before. But it didn’t remain for long.
The Johns Hopkins researchers suggested that the early dark energy faded away after 100,000 years. But the damage was already done, and the young universe was already expanding at an accelerated rate.
Although the idea seems to work, Adam G. Riess of Johns Hopkins and the Space Science Institute doesn’t think it’s conclusive.
“Nature, manifest in future observations, will have the final say,” he told the New York Times.
Other Theories To Explain the Accelerated Expansion
Like most cosmologists, Harvard theorist, Lisa Randall has also been pondering the problem. While the John Hopkins calculation seems to work, the scientists have taken issues with some aspects.
Randall and her post-doctoral colleagues have been working on a similar idea for a while. And they believe it not only works as well as the Johns Hopkins calculations, but is mathematically consistent too.
“It’s novel and very cool,” said Randall.
The New York Times reported that other hypotheses to explain the accelerated rate of the universe’s expansion require the introduction of undiscovered subatomic particles.
In other cases, scientists simply go through previous calculations for errors.
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